On the morning of Friday, 28 March, Xi Jinping met representatives of the international business community at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Xi began by paying tribute to the numerous benefits foreign businesses brought to the country, providing badly-needed Chinese political currency to the operations of multinationals, overwhelmingly from the West. After years of deteriorating relations between China and the West, the top leader’s open gratitude to multinationals will likely help the Chinese Government and society correct its increasing securitisation and paranoia over the West.
China’s stunning achievement is not only thanks to the governing Communist Party of China and the Chinese people but “also support and help from the international community, including the contribution of foreign businesses operating in China”, Xi said. Foreign businesses, he said, “account for one-third of China’s total imports and exports, one-quarter of its industrial added value, and one-seventh of its tax revenues, creating over 30 million jobs.”
In Chinese domestic politics, official positioning of a thing or event is essential. Xi’s positioning of foreign businesses is “important participants in the Chinese modernisation drive, in the country’s reform, opening and innovation, and in its interconnectivity with the world and integration into economic globalisation”.
In what would have been music to the ears of the foreign chief executives, Xi even made the point, “Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the foreign businesses that have participated in and supported China’s development!” with an exclamation mark.
Many will say the Chinese president is, in essence, responding to multinational companies’ increasing pessimism in the Chinese market, evidenced by falling foreign direct investment. Xi acknowledged, albeit diplomatically, that “in recent years, foreign businesses have indeed encountered certain difficulties in their development in China”. Facing the problem directly is undoubtedly better than pretending it doesn’t exist.
Xi went into more detail than ever before, for example, recognising that multinationals often fail to access business opportunities despite market openings on paper. He said, “We will work to resolve the issue of ‘big doors open, but small doors remain closed’ in market access, ensuring that foreign-invested enterprises not only gain entry into opened sectors but also enjoy full and fair access in operations.”
He acknowledged that multinationals often feel discriminated against by re-emphasising that China has long “maintained that foreign businesses in China should enjoy national treatment, with equal application of laws, equal status, and equal treatment. “We will ensure that foreign enterprises have fair and lawful access to production factors.”
He tacitly admitted that multinationals often can’t benefit from government procurement in China by promising, “We will also ensure that products manufactured in China by foreign businesses can participate in government procurement on an equal footing, in accordance with the law.”
Xi underlined that multinationals must be ensured regular access to the Chinese Government.
Many will also say Xi is taking advantage of the Trump shock. His remarks are regular by Chinese standards, including “Many foreign businesses, especially multinational companies, carry substantial global influence. We hope you will speak with reason, act with pragmatism, firmly oppose retrogressive moves that turn back the clock of history, reject zero-sum thinking, and actively promote co-operation and mutual benefit.”
As Trump pauses US funding for the World Trade Organisation, Xi has doubled down on the WTO, saying, “The multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation at its core, is the cornerstone of international trade… We must uphold the principles and rules of the WTO, continue advancing trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, and encourage all countries to expand the ‘pie’ of shared development through greater openness.”
Xi promised more opening up. “Lowering the threshold of market access will be a key priority in the next phase of opening up. I have specifically emphasised that opening up measures should be translated into reality sooner rather than later. This year, we will expand pilot opening programs in selected areas and accelerate opening in sectors such as culture and education.” Culture and education are the sectors that, should one want to, can be portrayed as strongly linked to ideology in the Chinese context, one of the most sensitive domains that the Communist Party of China has closely guarded, as ideology is considered related to regime security. It will be interesting to see what the opening up will look like here.
Xi vows China has no interest in any military conflict, saying, “China will unswervingly pursue a path of peaceful development, actively promote the resolution of international and regional hotspot issues, and strive to create an enabling environment for foreign businesses.” This may be a stretch, but Taiwan comes to mind – let’s not pretend that isn’t every multinational’s nightmare scenario.
On Friday night, Beijing promptly released Xi’s full remarks on top of its usual readouts. That is a sign of the emphasis on meeting with foreign businesses. The full remarks also help as they more officially and conveniently serve as references for shrewd political operators, including hopefully the government affairs and public relations specialists of the multinationals who should wield it as a valuable tool in their China dealings.
Two friends of mine in a WeChat group have helpfully shared a list of foreign participants in the meeting with Xi.
As you will see from the document, 14 of the 38 participants are American, 10 are German, 6 are British, 3 are French, 2 are Japanese, 2 are Korean, and one each from Switzerland, Denmark, and Sweden. There is also one from Brazil and one from Saudi Arabia.
As much as Beijing would like to talk about BRICS and Global South, the game is still Western when it comes to foreign investment and multinationals – remember, the foreigners gathered are officially described by China as “Representatives of the International Business Community.”
Republished from Pekingnology, 29 March 2025
Zichen Wang
Zichen Wang Research Fellow & Director for Int’l Comms at Center for China and Globalisation (CCG), after 11 years at Xinhua News Agency. Founder & Editor: Pekingnology & The East is Read. Salzburg Global Fellow (2024-).